For Beginners in Action

Postmodernism For Beginners showcases the effectiveness of the For Beginners series as a learning aid, as well as an easier route for readers to take to understanding big ideas.

Derek D. Miller’s "Postmodernism in Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle" uses Postmodernism For Beginners as a stepping stone to discuss the postmodernism movement and its themes in Vonnegut’s work. Miller explains the limitations of truth, the satire in Cat’s Cradle, and the inherent humor in many of the book’s events. 

Miller writes:

One of the most significant examples of Vonnegut’s postmodern attitude in Cat’s Cradle is the entire symbol his novel is based on and titled after. The symbol of a “Cat’s Cradle” (which is a design that can be made by threading string between one’s hands) plays an extremely important role in the novel. Vonnegut uses this to symbolize how all of mankind’s ideas and “truths” are really based upon lies, or narratives. Everything we accept as truth is either a myth legitimized by the necessity for its own creation, or science, which is a narrative that cannot even legitimize itself.

There's more food for thought, including a discussion of many of the book’s most important quotes, in the larger article.

Also, our congratulations go out to the staff behind Atlas Shrugged: Part 1, which enjoyed a limited release but saw about the same success on a per-theater basis as Scream 4.